cold duck?

[intoxicating]

I have two gallons of 2/3 chardonnay and 1/3 red wine in secondary that I want to try to bottle carbonate.

I have a few champagne bottles, and bought the stoppers and wire cages. I also have some 187's that take a crown cap, and some 16 oz. wire top ceramic stopper beer bottles. I am intimidated by the thought of disgorging the lees from the neck and expect that for the first attempt I may just leave the sediment in the bottom and pour carefully.

Any guesses how the difference in sizes may affect the time to ferment?

I have not added any sulfite or sorbate lately, and thought maybe I could get by with not adding additional yeast at this stage. some one told me at a meeting that they make a sparkling kit and it didn't add any more yeast when it was primed at bottling.

how much do I want to degass it? It is supposed to build up gas in the bottle, so I would expect that I should leave all the gas in that it has now, or would it need to be degassed for the yeast to restart?

Any experience wold be helpful. I am currently collecting multiple recipes and comparing them.

 

[SweetieMike]

Degas the wine. You have some unkown amount of gas in the wine. Even very strong bottles can break under pressure. You should not have to add more yeast. If your woried about it, it wont hurt. For the secondary fermantation in the bottle, just add your sugar to carboy before you bottle. (This assumes you have already clarified your wine) The pros' use a method for slowly turning the bottles and removing the bottle lees while saving the carbonation. I'm sure ther is some info online about this. Good Luck.

 

[intoxicating]

Thanks for the info. I am still in the clarifying stage. I have read LOTS on the net about the procedure for turning and disgorging the bottles, and it sounds like too much at this point.